I may possibly might take this up as a TL.
The decline of Led Zeppelin in the late 1970s can largely be traced to August of 1975, when Robert Plant, the vocalist of the group, was very nearly killled in a nasty car accident in Greece. The six albums the band had released up until that point (Led Zeppelin I-IV, Houses of the Holy, and Physical Graffiti) had all been massive hits; rock critics everywhere, originally dismissive of the band, were finally giving them some credit; and, perhaps most importantly, all of the band members were making massive amounts of money.
That all changed after Plant's accident. He wouldn't fully recover until the late '70s; the band's next album, Presence, was a chore to make (it was here that Jimmy Page got hooked on heroine, an addiction that would hamper his playing well past Zep's collapse) and received lukewarm reviews at best. After a prolonged absence and a couple of generally unspectacular tours, LZ came out with In Through the Out Door, a return to their traditional "Sixteen Genres in Fourteen Songs" album style. The band seemed poised for some kind of comeback, but then John Bonham up and died, leaving Zeppelin to disband behind him.
So, what if Plant avoids the fateful accident? The whole dynamic of the situation is changed; they've just come off what may have been their greatest live performance, they're preparing for a North America tour, and best of all their lead guitarist isn't spending most of his time high out of his mind. What happens next?
The decline of Led Zeppelin in the late 1970s can largely be traced to August of 1975, when Robert Plant, the vocalist of the group, was very nearly killled in a nasty car accident in Greece. The six albums the band had released up until that point (Led Zeppelin I-IV, Houses of the Holy, and Physical Graffiti) had all been massive hits; rock critics everywhere, originally dismissive of the band, were finally giving them some credit; and, perhaps most importantly, all of the band members were making massive amounts of money.
That all changed after Plant's accident. He wouldn't fully recover until the late '70s; the band's next album, Presence, was a chore to make (it was here that Jimmy Page got hooked on heroine, an addiction that would hamper his playing well past Zep's collapse) and received lukewarm reviews at best. After a prolonged absence and a couple of generally unspectacular tours, LZ came out with In Through the Out Door, a return to their traditional "Sixteen Genres in Fourteen Songs" album style. The band seemed poised for some kind of comeback, but then John Bonham up and died, leaving Zeppelin to disband behind him.
So, what if Plant avoids the fateful accident? The whole dynamic of the situation is changed; they've just come off what may have been their greatest live performance, they're preparing for a North America tour, and best of all their lead guitarist isn't spending most of his time high out of his mind. What happens next?
